Author's note
Updated at last! In case anyone is wondering I had an assignment due and had the dilemma of deciding which to do first. Naturally the assignment would come first. But then Maho drove her Tiger into my house AGAIN and threatened me with it. This time I had to put my foot down and told her it was not for discussion. So she came down from the tank and pointed a Luger at me. After valiantly standing my ground like the champ that I am
Maho: What do you mean stand your ground? You were on your knees begging.
Me: No I didn't! I was...tired and had to get on my knees...heh
Maho: Just finish the author's note so the readers can get to the story.
As I was saying, after some discussion we came to a compromise where I will work on both at the same time. The things I had to do...ugh...
Maho: You need better time management. I will be camping outside your house until the next chapter is up.
Me: But...
*Maho pull out Luger.
Me: Okay okay...So guys I hope you will enjoy this chapter...and please send help...
Chapter 12
"The more I look at it, the more reasonable this sounds." Kyoji commented looking at the map that was spread over the table. "This is a smart plan."
The map that was on the table shows a ten by ten kilometer patch of flat land in Hokkaido that is to be our battleground with Saunders. On the northern end is a forest that covers the northern quarter of the map while the southern end has a high ground with a gentle incline on the western part and a cliff face with a sharp drop on the northern and eastern face. The last significant feature on the map is a road bisecting the battleground from east to west.
"I don't know about how I feel about what you've said." Satoshi said. "This plan of his is already very by the book as it is. Now you're saying that? Are you trying to jinx us even more?"
"Will you guys calm down already?" I asked out of annoyance. "When the plan is bold, you guys call it stupid. And now when the plan is normal, you guys act like something bad is going to happen. What do you guys want from me?"
"For one, you could start dating." Satou suggested with a shrug from the opposite end of the table. The other tank commanders of the team, Tetsuo, Fukuda and Ryoji, all agreed with him.
God damn it Satou! I am going to strap you into a light tank and shoot the shit out of it!
"Can we continue with the topic at hand? This is going to be the last time we would be going through the plan before the match so please pay attention." I groaned in frustration. Seeing no objection I started the briefing. "So we will be starting at the western end at Point A while Saunders starts at the other side marked Point B. Now, the big empty land between those two points is a shooting gallery and I am not interested in attrition. Especially when it's guaranteed that they would be packing more stuff than us."
"So we're not taking the road?" Tetsuo asked. He and his crew did wonders in restoring our second hand tanks to their former glory. Some would even go further and say that the tanks are now performing better than when they had rolled out of the factory. The stroking of Tetsuo and his crew's ego aside, they had taught everyone on the Senshado team how to do basic repair and maintenance their own tanks. Though there are still times where we have to refer back to our beloved 'gear head', as we call them, we are quickly being self sufficient in the basic workings of a tank. "I have to warn you that the tanks performance will suffer off-road. Their cruise and traverse speed. You can expect a decrease in those."
"Noted. We'll have to place our faith in our machines." I said acknowledging Tetsuo. "We will also be ignoring the high ground. That place plays into their favour. It's a nice place to camp and shoot but there is only one way in and out of that place. As Maho mentioned, they would probably throw in a lot of stuff at the front and a few quick flankers to shoot us from the rear."
"But it'll be over if we don't have the high ground." Kyoji said in an excited tone. "We may get our legs cut off and be burnt to a crisp if we don't get it. Sure we get a cool black suit and some awesome prosthetics but it's a fact that we still lose because they had the high ground."
"We get the movie reference Kyoji. You can stop now." I said before pointing at the northern part of the map where the forest is. "We'll be advancing here and we hit a part of their team before they could respond. Then we set up an ambush and shoot up whatever we can before bugging out. Questions?"
"Ya. What about the flag tank? If we don't get it we won't win the match." Fukuda mentioned getting an awkward glance from the rest of us.
"I thought you join up for the fight and not for victory?" I asked in an amused tone.
"That's not what I meant. I mean we need to conclude the match right? And you don't expect us to just let them take out our flag tank without a fight right? I still don't like the winning at all cost mentality but if we don't try to head for their flag tank then we are not fighting to the end with everything we have right?" Fukuda asked when he realised his earlier statement may have a different meaning. He has always go on about how he is just here for the fight and nothing else so ending up being a hypocrite over a wrong choice of words would be embarrassing. When he noticed our smug faces, he realised that he had been had. "Right now I have half a mind to shoot up all your tanks when the match starts."
"It would be more interesting to commit fratricide when we are engaging the enemy. They may actually stop to figure out what's happening." I suggested still wearing my smug smile. "As for the flag tank, I doubt they would have it with the main force so we won't have to think of it until we whittle down the enemy."
"What about comms?" Satoshi asked. "We might have some unwanted listeners."
"Stick with the codes on the maps given to you when referring to location. As long as they don't have the codes they can listen in all they want."I said pointing at codes that was written on the map we are looking at. "As for the roles, my tank will be the flag tank. Ryoji, you and my tank will be the main line. Satou, you will also be the main line but if we need to pull out you are to get into their line and make their life difficult. Tetsuo, your group will be the scout and to get into their line when the shooting starts. Fukuda, your group will be sniping from the rear or flank. Your tank is not that high so they would need time to find you. So work that cannon. Anything else?"
"Yea. The most important part. Callsigns." Satou said raising his hand eagerly. "I want to be called Papa Dragon."
"I want Mary Poppins."
"Hey Keiji can we get Darth Vader?"
"What? No! Guys, I am not going to allow those nicknames! Its long and ridiculous!" I said in a loud tone of voice. Everyone present groaned in disagreement. "We'll keep the callsigns simple for now. My team will be called Flag, Tetsuo's will be Scout, Satou will be Heavy, Ryoji will be Line and Fukuda will be Support."
"Cheh. Party killer." Satou said crossing his arm. "So we will be hitting them like you mentioned over and over until they are weak enough for us to roam around the area at will to find their flag tank?"
"Yup. That about sums it up. Everyone clear on the plan?" I asked and got confirmation from everyone. "Good. There's two hours before the match, brief your crew and finish up final preparation. Dismiss."
With that everyone hurried off to their tanks to get everything done before the match. We have been training for a while now and confidence and morale is high. Though no one can say for certain that we can beat Saunders, everyone believed that we could at least give them a run for their money. Of course any observer could also say that this was wishful thinking since if we cannot put up a satisfactory fight we would be forced to take the Drag Dance punishment from the challenge that Suzaku gave. In all honesty that much is also true. We were no strangers to the Drag Dance. Though it is nice to experience it as an audience, that cannot be said for the participants. They did not enjoy one second of it. That much can be certain by just attending the performance itself.
While everyone was busy getting their tanks ready for the match, a jeep approached our temporary camp. From a distance away I can make out a driver with a tomboyish haircut, a passenger beside the driver with short pigtails and a third person at the back, who appears to be standing up and waving at us. Though not the most weird thing I have seen, it was definitely dangerous. I mean one bump would practically launched that person into the air and I don't want to be there to see the landing. But that obviously dangerous stunt coupled with that head of blonde hair is enough for me to figure out who was on the way.
"Guys, we're about to get some visitors so behave yourselves!" I called out as I helped load another shell into my T34-85. When the jeep came screeching to a stop, I went to greet our visitors. "Hi. I am Shinamura Keiji, the commander here. You must be-"
"Kay here! So you're the one who's opening Senshado for boys! Nice to meet meet you Shinkei!" Kay said out loud cheerily shaking my hand vigorously. In the background I can hear the snickering from some of my teammates at my new nickname. I can already tell they are going to have so much fun with it later on. "It will be interesting to have a match with you and your team! Best of luck!"
"Uh...Yeah thanks. Calling me Keiji is fine." I said hesitantly as I look at the blonde ball of energy in front of me. "I appreciate that you approached us with the offer of a match so quickly after the actual announcement. Besides Kuromorimine, I didn't really expect any school doing so."
"That's no problem at all!" Kay said smacking my back as if we were now best of friends. "I wouldn't be surprised if there is a que for it soon! What you're doing has stir up a storm in Senshado!"
"That's the first We've heard about it!" Someone, possibly Kyoji, shouted some distance behind me. "Hey Keiji are you going to slack off!?"
"Sorry about that. We are doing our final preparation for the match." I explained.
"You mean to say that we just finish without your lazy ass!" Another person shouted and our guest looked on amusedly.
"Ah! That's perfect! Come visit our camp! We've set up a lot of stalls and have food enough for everyone! You can get whatever you want there! Let's get to know each other before the match!" Kay invited.
"Did she just say food!?"
"Is she a goddess?"
"Hey boss you're letting us go right!? We are going right!?"
"It's mutiny if you don't let us go!"
"They are a rowdy bunch aren't they?" Alisa asked.
"I am sorry for their behavior. They are just trying to embarass me so pay no mind to them." I said covering my face with my hands. "If you are okay with having my team visit then we will be happy to."
We all piled onto the two T34-85s and followed our guests to their camp. Once there we were greeted by the rest of Saunders team and I quickly realized why they are considered one of the richest school. There are at least ten food and beverages stalls, a shower stall, a saloon stall, oddly enough, and a clothing stall. What is more amazing is that each stall fitted nicely onto a Studebaker truck. How is that even possible, especially with the shower stall, is beyond me or my team's understanding.
A short reminder for them to behave themselves later, my team went off to see what Saunders' camp had to offer. I can hardly blame them for their excitement. Being the pariahs that they were, they had to deal with a lot of things when they were outside of their room. They were all tired of the looks of disgusts, disdain and disappointment whenever the venture outside their room. That and the fact that they had to deal with iy in class as well is enough to make even the most outgoing weary of the outside world. Hence hardly anyone ever ventures out of their room except for when they had classes. This means that they had to content with cooking themselves for at least dinner. And since no one is any good at cooking, even if their life depended on it, most of us got bored of it very quickly. So the change of pace in terms of dietary intake is very much welcomed by my team.
While they are enjoying their little discovery, Kay and I chatted with each other. She was curious by my interest in Senshado and she looks forward to having men join into the sports. The more the merrier was her answer when I asked about the latter. She also added that the tanks would be sad if we stopped people from doing Senshado just because of gender. I am not entirely sure how does a tank has feeling but I agree that it would be a sad thing if people were turned away just because of gender. But that line of discussion is quickly pushed to the back of my mind as the delicious smell of food filled the air. French fries, steak, hamburgers are a few of the smell I can make out. It is wonderful.
"Oh Keiji you're here." Maho said as she approached me and Kay with Erika following behind.
"Hi! What are the two of you doing here?" I asked greeting the two two of them along with a dozen other peoples are here to observe our match but I did not expect to see them here.
"I heard that they would be observing so I asked them to come over as well!" Kay said before getting between Maho and Erika and putting an arm around both of them. "I mean it's better than sitting around in a room with a bunch of boring people while waiting for the game to start right?"
"Say Keiji. Are your team alright?" Erika asked pointing in the general direction of the food stalls. "They um...seemed emotional."
Looking at where Erika was pointing, I was greeted by a sight that will stay with me for the rest of my life. In front of me were men who had always held their heads up high, even when the school was bearing on them, breaking into tears as they tasted what could possibly be their first properly cooked food in ages. Tears rolled down some of their cheeks as they took a bite out of whatever they had bought. Everything was savoured. The aroma, every bite and every chewing motion brought all of them into their own heaven. A happy place. A safe place. A place where they can shed all of their burden and be free. Some of them were just standing there weeping silently while others embraced their friends while they enjoyed their mouthful of heaven. There were even a few who, like Kyoji, were so moved that they had collapsed on to their knees as they cried out loud and ate their food.
Observing them, my chest starts to ache and at the same time I felt that it was empty inside. It felt as if it would collapsed into itself. Instinctively my right hand gripped my hurting chest as I tried to contain myself. I gritted my teeth and clenched my left hand into a fist as I watched everyone savoured the very unhealthy food in their hands. I watched as my vision blurred as I thought back to all the meals I had to cook myself. From the very undercooked chicken from my first time cooking to the recently very burnt rice. It was a daily reminder that we were not welcomed in our own school. It is a reminder that we had walked ourselves down to hell. Tears finally rolled down my cheeks as I once again looked at my friends enjoying their meals as if it were their last. We all had to learn from scratch through trial and error of how to cook a proper meal. Often times we ended up with food that had no taste or had too much. We bear with it in our own way. I am sure at some point everyone would have thought back to their mother's cooking and yearned for it. Compared to that, what we have cooked would have made the devil turn to god for help.
I would give my soul for any food that wasn't my own. Mom...I am sorry if i said that your cooking were boring. It is still the best food I've ever tasted and I miss it very much.
My left hand starts to sting as my nails dug into my palm and drew blood. I watched in silence as Satou approached me with two burgers still in their wrapping in both hands. His eyes were puffy and red as he handed my one of the burger. Silently we unwrapped our own hand held heart attack from its paper wrappings. Holding the precious processed meat and chopped cabbage held together in a bun with both my hands, I took a hearty bite out of it as Satou did the same. As the sensation of chilli sauce, mayonnaise and mustard swarmed my taste buds, the two of us embraced each other tightly. It had been years since we had such a heart to heart moment.
"Keiji...I miss good food. I miss eating without being glared at." Satou said after swallowing his food.
"Uh Keiji? Is everything okay? Is something wrong with the food?" Kay asked as she shared a nervous look with the rest of her team and the students who ran the stalls. "I-I am sorry for whatever it is so you guys don't have to break down like that."
"Erika was Keiji always this emotional?" Maho asked a confused Erika. The latter looked on with a worried expression and just shook her head.
"I know." I said softly to Satou as I separated from him and walked with determination towards a vacant foldable table.
You...No. None of us have to feel this way ever again. I swear it.
"Everything is fine Kay. The food is great. Don't worry about it." I said to Kay as I walked pass her and gave her a pat on the back. Before anyone knows it, I am on top of the foldable table and addressing my team with my right fist raised. "Spartan boys! From today onwards, we will have our meals together after practice! From today onwards whenever we put up a good fight in a match we will eat like kings! We will eat wherever the hell we want! No more hiding to eat! If they have a problem then they can eat our fist! We will keep fighting!"
"To always keep fighting!" My team cheered with their fist raised.
"Are you alright Keiji?" Maho asked in a concerned tone as she handed me a tissue after things calmed down..
"Can you explain what just happened?" Erika asked impatiently
"Is your team okay for a match in this state?" Kay added in.
"I am fine. Me and my team just miss eating food that is not our own." I tried to explain briefly as I took the tissue from Maho.
"Har?" The three of them responded.
"You see, being the black sheeps that we are, we are entitled to certain privileges. The most notable is being shot with angry glares, looks of disgust and disdain. Trust me on this it can be tiring. And its worst during meal time. Can you imagine eating while getting those kind of looks? In the end most of us decided to cook ourselves." I explained taking another bite out of the burger Satou gave me.
"That still doesn't explain what happen." Erika commented as she thought of how bad can our cooking be.
"Our cooking are not that good and after a while it can be a torture. At this point eating anything that isn't our own would invoke some form of nostalgia. It reminds us of happier and more easy going times. Add that to the fact that we are eating without being judge along with a few other reasons and this is what you get." I concluded my explanation whilst taking another bite out of my burger. "Not that I am complaining or anything but the burger could use some pickle and tomatoes as well."
"At least speak after you finish chewing." Erika said shaking her head disapprovingly. "And considering how you acted earlier I don't think anyone will take your burger advice seriously."
"Ah...Student politics can be difficult huh?" Kay said awkwardly as she tries to brush the heavy topic aside.
"Is your cooking really that bad?" Maho asked absentmindedly as she watch me greedily gobble up what is left of the burger.
"Well nothing we can do with that." I answered Kay as I used my hand to wipe off the sauce that was smeared on my cheeks only to make it worst. Instinctively, Maho took out her own handkerchief and took over the role of wiping my cheek. Once she was satisfied, she kept her handkerchief and took a step back. It is only then that she noticed me, Erika and Kay staring at her with wide eyes. It took a second or two but Maho finally figured out what she just did and waved both her arms in panic.
"C-Commander… I didn't know you and Keiji were…" Erika mumbled as if shell-shocked as she hurriedly took out her phone with her trembling hands. "I-I've got to tell someone...L-Leila…"
"I-It's not what y-you think!" Maho managed to stuttered out of embarrassment as her cheeks turned red. "I did it out if habit! My sister was a messy eater when she was a child and I used to wipe her face when she eats! So I did it out of habit!"
"Heeeee...Out of habit? It sounds like a very convenient excuse to get intimate if you ask me." Kay countered teasing Maho and giving her an overly suspicious and playful look. Hoping that I would help her out, Maho looked at me only to see me frozen in place still staring at her in shock with cheeks as red as hers.
"M-Maho wipes Miho because she was a messy eater...Got to tell someone...K-Koume…" Erika mumbled again, this time twitching as she tries to use her phone.
"Hey Keiji! You ready to…" Satou said returning to me. Looking at me closely, he deduced that something was wrong. A few waves of his hand in front of me confirms his suspicion. Looking at Maho trying to explain something to Erika only drive home the point even more. "Did something happen to him?"
"Nothing much~" Kay said casually still enjoying the scene before her. "Maho just wiped off some sauce Keiji got on his cheek."
"Ah...I see." Satou said understandingly. He then snapped his fingers at me and gave me a few slap on the face. "Hey Keiji. Wake up now. Come back to us."
"Satou? I-"
"That's right. You're back. Focus here now." Satou said giving me a pat on the back. "We should be going in the next ten minutes."
"Uh...Yeah right. Noted. Thanks Satou." I replied, now fully back in reality. I quickly excused myself to gather my crew and have them facilitate our departure.
"What just happen to him?" Kay asked.
"He may not look the part but he can be a shy guy at times.." Satou answered with a shrug. "Thanks for having us and good luck later in the match."
"You too~" Kay said as she waved Satou off. Behind her, Maho has somehow manage to bring Erika under control.
Orders were soon given and we all piled back to our two T34s and made our way back to our own camp. It was almost time for the match after all. Of course some of us were a bit reluctant to leave the delightful wonderland we found ourselves in and some rather violent form of convincing was used. Back at camp we topped off the fuel tank for the two T34s and I went out to do the traditional greeting between the opposing sides.
Excluding the Senshado Committee, there is quite a good number of audience present to watch the match. Though most of them were cheering for Saunders, I can make out a small number of the audience being representatives from some of my school's clubs. Suzaku was amongst them and is looking very smug. The announcer quickly got to work on giving a short introduction on both school and the nature of the match. A respectful bow and a hand shake later, Kay and I wished each other luck and went back to our starting location. The starting flare was fired and the match was on.
Almost immediately, our BT7 rushed out in front of the team and into the forest to scout while the rest of us lumbered behind in a single column formation with Ryoji's T34 in the lead followed by the one commanded by me and the KV1 commanded by Satou and the Jagdpanzer commanded by Fukuda bringing up the rear. It took us a while to get to the mid-way point in the forest but none of us were particularly worried since Tetsuo in his BT7 was zipping all over the place to look for the enemy. If I didn't know better, I would say that Tetsuo doesn't know where the brake is. However, upon nearing the mid-way point, all of us started to pay more attention to our surroundings while Tetsuo slowed down his tank as the rest of us changed to line formation in anticipation for a battle.
"Scout here. Spotted movement in the bush ahead. Speeding up to check it out." Tetsuo reported as his vehicle accelerates up again.
"Scout, circle around and come in from behind." I said over the comms as Tetsuo's BT7 disappeared from sight. It's the third suspicious bush in two minutes and we have no contact thus far. That only means that Saunders have something up their sleeves. "Try to flush them out. Something is off. Everyone eyes out."
There were four mic clicks indicating that everyone has heard me. Then there was silence. That is if you can ignore the engine noise. Then there was the sound of a cannon firing. And then another. Then a tank burst out of a bush some hundred metres in front of us.
"What the fuck kind of tank is that!?" Satou yelled over the comms. "It ain't anything they have!"
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" Tetsuo yelled back on the comms as his tank flew out of the same bush following closely behind the first. However we can only track the target in front of us. "God damn it! Shoot already you idiots!"
"We would if you would get the fuck out of the way you fucker!" Satou yelled back over the comms. As if a dog being scolded by its owner, Tetsuo quickly peeled away and the rest of us got a shot off. Unfortunately, none of our shots hit and the enemy got away. Tetsuo quickly utter an apology and we reformed our battle line while Tetsuo went on ahead to scout.
"Hey boss. That ain't a tank we're brief on is it?" Kyoji asked in a serious tone.
"No. Its a fucking Stuart." I grumbled as I scanned the forest realising that our planning and assumption had all just went down the toilet. "All tanks, the plan is no longer applicable. We getting-"
"Enemy 11 o'clock!" Tetsuo yelled out just as an explosion landed to his right while his vehicle flew back to our line. "Five hundred metres and closing! Five Shermans!"
"Engage! Push up and engage! We're breaking through!" I ordered with a growing sense of urgency. "They will be flanking us! Target their right flank! Wedge formation! Support to our left and start shooting! Scout get stuck in on their left! We out of time!"
Without a word, everyone set out to do as their told. Tetsuo turned his tank around and is now rocketing back towards our opponents while Fukuda quickly set up on our left to fire at the tanks in front of us. My tank quickly formed up behind on Satou's eight o'clock and Ryoji on his four o'clock. The three of our tank advance as we traded shots with the tanks in front of us. Since they were also advancing, the Saunders' shots were not accurate. However, that did not deter some of the shots from getting too close for comfort. Several of it actually made contact with the KV1. But luckily for us, all of it bounced off its thick frontal armour. Excluding the KV1, which has become a shell magnet when the shooting start, there was a shell that hit my T34 at an odd angle and bounced off. Our shots were doing just as bad or worse. Most of it landed around the Shermans with the occasional shell that bounce off due to the shallow angle
The Shermans soon came to a halt at roughly three hundred metres away. That was when the difference between firing on the move and stationary became clear. Shells were bouncing off the KV1 more frequently and my tanks as well as the other T34 begin to get more attention. We could do the same and stop to fire off. But that would delay us from punching through their line. And I have no doubt that if we delay anymore, we would be surrounded.
"Flag, they are getting more accurate!" Ryoji called out on the comms.
"Support in position! Firing!" Fukuda announced just in time. A few seconds later, the crack of the Jagdpanzer's 75mm can be heard and a Sherman shuddered and a white flag popped out of its turret. "You fucking saw that!?"
"Support, it's a hit. Keep it up. Line and Heavy keep up the pressure." I reported looking around for our BT7.
Since we started our advance, the BT7, driven by Tetsuo, was dodging and weaving its way through the forest like a boxer expertly dodge his opponent while waiting for his chance to strike. The BT7's gun remained silent as the manoeuvres were so violent that aiming is impossible. The gunner instead focus on the terrain, warning Tetsuo whenever there is a bump that would give them an uncomfortable amount of air time. When nearing the Shermans, he noticed a sixth Sherman with a particularly long barrel broke cover and positioned itself on the far left, some fifteen metres away, of the five Sherman. What is more concerning is that the barrel is pointed at where the BT7 is going to be.
"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Kasuma screamed into the tank's internal comms while his legs strangled Tetsuo as a form of nonverbal communication and incentive to pull the brakes. Thankfully for them and the tank, Tetsuo managed to bring the tanks into a screeching halt just in time to see the 17 pounder shell churned up dirt at where they would be if they had continued going. "Okay! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"
The BT7 quickly gunned its engine before any other tanks could fire at it. By the time it has reached the line of Shermans, Fukuda reported that his Jagdpanzer has reloaded and the crack of its main gun can be heard again as another Sherman became its next victim. With the two Shermans on Saunders right flank gone, a hole in their line has opened up. Despite nothing was going according to my initial plan, it looks as if everything since our first contact is turning out fine. Sure we were expecting to be surrounded soon, but our escape route has been secured by Fukuda and his Jagdpanzer. Now our group, barring the BT7 as they are to keep our opponents distracted, would punch through Saunders' decimated right flank and make our grand escape before the noose closed on us. A short regrouping after that and we will be ready for round two. At least that is what everyone hoped would happen but life and possibly god has a way of throwing a wrench into any plan.
Now in every tragedy, every disaster and conflict can be traced to one particular starting point. Be it a plane crash or a global war that would result in millions dead, there is always a starting point for those involved where something somewhere went wrong and all of a sudden everything spiral downwards. Like when you wake up to a good morning and had a wonderful breakfast and had plenty of time to walk to school. But then on the way, you missed a green light at the traffic crossing. It might not seemed like much but then a car flew through a puddle of muck you did not noticed was in front of you and got you soaked to the bones. Since there is time you decided to go back home to shower and change. Besides, you are not far from home. But half way through your shower, the electricity was cut off before coming back on after some time. By the time you exit your house you are just barely cutting it. Halfway there your realised that in your haste you forgotten your bag and had to rush back resulting in you being late. Then you found out that your homework were also soaked and not presentable. As punishment you had detention and resulted in you getting rob when you decided to relax in a cafe on your way home. All that just because of missing a traffic crossing
Our 'traffic crossing' is when Tetsuo's BT7, now behind the line of Shermans, made a mad dash for the Sherman Firefly from its right. Since the side of the Firefly is facing them, Tetsuo have his crew spam as much 45mm shells as possible. Most of the shots missed by a wide margin due to the tank bouncing around and throwing off the aim but that did not matter because it had gotten the attention of the Firefly which begin turning its turret. Tetsuo easily avoided the first shot by yanking on the brakes on one side and drifted pass the shell. A second shot yielded the same result and there were no third shot. The Firefly gunner waited till the BT7 was roughly ten metres away and opened fire.
Tetsuo wore an ear to ear smile at the anticipated shot and yank on his right brakes and drifting the tank to the left. The level of satisfaction in him build as he felt the familiar sensation of the drift. He and his crew had not been practicing drifting in the tank for nothing. Then he felt an unfamiliar vibration followed by an increasingly loud and worrying sound of metallic groaning from the tank. He frowned as the groaning gave way to the sound of metal being torn apart followed by the world spinning clockwise in front of him. The only thing he remember before everything come to a crashing halt was Kasuma yelling something over the radio.
"We! Fucked! Up!" Kasuma yelled over the team's frequency. Hearing it, I looked in the direction where Tetsuo and his team should be. What greeted me was Tetsuo's BT7 barrel rolling towards the side of the Sherman Firefly with one of its track flailing in the air.
Before I could form a coherent thought, five Stuart tanks charged through the gap that Fukuda, in his Jagdpanzer, had created and quickly had him surrounded. A Jagdpanzer, in a normal situation would not be this easily spotted. But with its gun close to the ground, the plumes of dust caused by firing the cannon had gave a away its location. Outnumbered in a slower tank, the Jagdpanzer's fate was sealed and a white flag popped out when one of the Stuart shot at the rear armour at point blank range.
While Fukuda was busy being swarmed, Tetsuo and his crew's unfortunate turn of events came to its conclusion when their BT7 smashed into the side of the Firefly. Things only got worse when Tetsuo peeped out of a vision slit and saw Kay looking at his tank's direction. He then saw the inside of her Sherman's barrel. And then the muzzle flash. It was not and is not going to be a good day for him or his crew.
"I knew it! I fucking knew it!" Satoshi yelled out over the tank's internal comms. "Kyoji! You idiot you fucking jinxed us! You just had to say it! You just had to shit all over our luck!"
"Fuck off! You know it went to shit the moment the plan is this sound!" Kyoji countered as he looked through the tanks sights. "This is a fucking snafu Keiji you fucktard!"
"Shut up and shoot!" I cursed and directed my tank's fire on the pesky Stuarts, taking out one in the process, while the other two remaining functional tanks on our side split their fire between the remaining Shermans and finally taking one out. But that was as far as our progress in the match would go. Next I hear a cannon fire from behind us and Ryoji's T34 shuddered to a halt and popped out a white flag. "Son of a bitch! Behind!"
"Three Hellcats on the rear! I got this Keiji! Keep going! I am rearguard!" Satou announced over the comms as his tank reversed towards the left at top speed. He plans to have the side of his tank to shield my tank's rear armour. With that big of a surface area, it would be difficult to for our new guests to hit us. Plus it would reduce the time needed to bring the KV1's main gun to bear. Overall, it was a logical thing to do. And it completely screwed us over.
During the course of our advance, our formation had gotten tighter and tighter due to the bracketing cannon fire. By the time Tetsuo's tank is barrel rolling, our tanks were only five metre away from each other. This close formation leaves little time and space for any sudden change in direction. Since Satou's KV1 is the lead of the wedge formation and my tank being behind on the left, the rear of Satou's KV1 smashed into the side of my tank and derailing it when Satou suddenly threw his tank into reverse. With my tank, the flag tank, unable to move and Satou recovering from the unbraced collision, the Firefly and every other remaining tank in front of me took careful aim and fired at my tank just as the Hellcats finished off Satou.
The match was concluded with a whimper on our end. None of us are satisfied. Within ten minutes from the initial contact our whole team was out. All our training and meeting had given us nothing in return. We were frustrated. We thanked Saunders for the match and quietly went our base to fix up our vehicles. We had to get our tanks back on to the school ship afterall. The mood at that point was comparable to a funeral. It was not improved when on our way back we saw some of our schoolmates laughing and making fun of us. It was like a walk of shame.
"Well that went well." one of Fukuda's crew member said sarcastically.
Can't blame them for feeling down. The match was really hard on all of us.
"Even though you told us that the first round would end in our loss, I didn't think it to go like this." Fukada said as he checked the Jagdpanzer's track with his driver. "We never stood a chance."
"Keiji. I am sorry for ramming you." Satou apologised.
"We still have four more of these don't we?" Tetsuo asked from across the garaj as he inspect his BT7 with a pained look on his face.
This is bad. With morale this low they would probably lose whatever motivation they had left. If it goes on it may affect the other matches as well and lead to a downward spiral.
"This really suck Keiji." Ryoji spoke what was on everyone's mind while sitting in his tank's commander hatch.
This is not getting us anywhere.
"Alright guys. Gather round. Center let's go." I announced as everyone obeyed lethargically. I stood quietly with my crew members and waited for everyone to gather. Once they had I signalled for them to sit down. And when they did, I cleared my throat. "Yes suck. I share everyone's feelings. We loss without putting up a fight. It leaves a bad feeling in the mouth. No one likes it. Not after the blood sweat and tears we put in. Looking around, I see disappointment. I see doubt. I see the lack of a spirit. I see submission. The differences between us and a school on a national level is just that great. We are nothing compared to them."
In front of me, I see my club members quietly accepted what I just said. Some looked away into the late morning sky while others looked at the grass around them. No doubt they were wondering if they had taken on an impossible task. Today's match has probably brought reality crashing down on some of them. No one expected to win the first match but everyone expected that we were able to fight on par with Saunders. The weeks of training probably inflated our self confidence till that point. And to fall from there to rock bottom is hard for any living being.
"So let me ask all of you here and now. What are you going to do about it!? What are each and every one of you prepared to do about it!?" I asked in a loud tone and grabbing everyone's attention. "They were better than us! So what!? We can always get better! We can always keep fighting! We can get better! Or are you all just going to accept it and submit to despair like that!? Are you going to accept and submit to fate like that!? Satou! We known each other since we were six! Did we submit to those bullies then!"
"Fuck no!" Satou yelled standing up with his fist raised.
"Then are you going to submit now just because you feel like shit!?" I yelled louder and jabbed my finger at Satou's direction. "Are any of you going to submit to this shit feeling rotting in your gut!?"
"We didn't back down then! There's no fucking way I am backing down now!" Satou yelled back stomping his feet on the ground to show his resolve. A series of profanities and cursing burst from the rest of the team as everyone agreed with Satou. There was no way that they are going to back down.
"Fate has given us shit before and it has given us shit again! But we are not going to take it sitting down! We have all bust our ass these few weeks for this match! It wasn't enough! So we will just train ten times harder! Put in a hundred times more effort and sweat a thousand time more!" I yelled shaking my fist in the air. "We will take this like Spartan Boys!'
"To always keep fucking fighting!" Kyoji yelled out and everyone yelled back the same phrase in unison.
"That's right! So let's get our vehicles running and back on the ship! It's not even afternoon and we have a busy day ahead!" I declared. "Tank commanders I want a report on your crew's performance! Tank crews I want the tanks fixed and a self reflection report! Once that is done I want everyone to go back and reflect on today's match before resting! If there is room for improvement I want to hear about it! You get me!?"
"Yes sir!" everyone responded and rushed to their tanks.
"All that yelling will get your throat killed." Soujiro said as he nudged me.
"It's not dead yet so I guess I will keep at it." I replied with a smirk.
"Just looking out for you. I'll be going then. Seems like you have company." Soujiro replied as he pointed at the approaching jeep and left. Figuring that it was the transport to take me to meet with Sparta High's school council and the Senshado VIPs I walked towards the vehicle.
"Yo Keiji!" Kay greeted as she brought the jeep to a violent screeching halt much to the dislike of Maho who was in the passenger seat. "Maho and I came to see how's your team is doing since you guys looked like someone had stolen your lunch money."
"We didn't expect to be finished off that quickly. We thought that we could put up a better fight and were disappointed with our performance." I answered with a shrug. "But as you can see the issue had resolved itself.
"Well it was a good a d fair match. So no complaints here." Kay said smiling as she shook my hand. "You guys did your best."
"We are also here to take you to the meeting." Maho added. "Your voice sound hoarse. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I had to raise my voice just now. Morale and stuff." I explained trying to hide the small awkward feeling brewing inside me as I recalled Maho wiping my face. "But I have a feeling that I forgotten something depressing."
"Saunders' commander! We won't end the match like that again!" someone called out in a friendly tone at Kay to which she responded by smiling and waving.
"Hey Keiji! How are you good buddy good pal?" Suzaku greeted as he joined us. "Wasn't that good of a match but I see you guys are taking it considerably well."
"Yeah. I mean we now know our level. So all we need is to get better. Nothing much to worry about." I answered nonchalantly.
"C'mon man. Don't tell me you forgotten about it?" Suzaku asked in a jolly mood. Seeing a genuinely blank expression from me, he looked around just to see equally blank expression from the rest of the team. "Really!? All of you actually forgotten about it?"
"Forgot what?" Kay asked curiously.
"The Drag Dance guys. C' can you forgot about it?" Suzaku asked disappointedly. Realizing what he was saying, the feeling of dread and despair now filled me as I collapsed onto my hands and knees in sheer hopelessness. Around me, the once energetic environment gradually died down as slowly one by one, everyone realised what Suzaku was talking about. Some were groaning in despair while some just slumped down where they stood with an empty look on their face.
"Uh...I thought you guys resolved the issue? What is happening and what is a Drag Dance?" Kay asked as I mumbled absentmindedly.
"Keiji are you alright? Is this Drag Dance really that bad?" Maho asked squatting down beside me. After a moment, I gathered myself and let out a sigh as I got up.
"It's quite bad Maho. Well...no point crying over it now. We remember it Suzaku. Go and make the arrangement will you?" I said in a resigned tone.
"Will do buddy!" Suzaku said rushing off.
"Seriously what is a Drag Dance?" Kay asked still confused.
"It's a punishment for losing a bet." I explained in the same tone as before. "You can come to Fukuoka in one week to have a look see. Sparta High will be docking there and we will be doing that then. Maho you can come too if you want."
"Hm...Sounds fun! I will be there then!" Kay announced as Maho wondered what would bring so much misery to me.
"Well Let's go then. Not good to have so many VIPs waiting."I said with a moan and we got onto the jeep and Kay drove us off.
Ending Note
So there we have it guys. What do you think? I know the match was a bit short but I wanted to show the difference in skill since Keiji's group are just beginners while Saunders is a national tournament team. So let me know what you think and I will see you next chapter. And please send help. Maho has moved in and is currently in the next room polishing her Luger.
Maho: Oh author~ I am not seeing the next chapter yet~ Do you need some persuasion?
Me: Uh...No thanks! Will get on it right away sweetheart! Don't need the Luger.